Following weeks of rumblings and a flurry of rumors over the past 24 hours, Sony Online Entertainment has announced today that it has acquired Vanguard: Saga of Heroes developer Sigil Games.

In an announcement posted on the new Sony Vanguard forum, John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, said that as well as acquiring all the assets of Sigil Games, Sony would be bringing on approximately 50 Sigil employees "in order to insure that Vanguard continues to grow." He stated that Sony plans to continue supporting Vanguard for many years to come, and that while content updates and expansion packs will be forthcoming, "right now the focus is on making sure Vanguard is running the way it should be."

The statement also indicated that Sony will be reversing Sigil's decision not to open forums dedicated to the game. The company has plans to contact many of the existing fansites to discuss the impact of this change, and will continue to support them. "By no means do we want to lose the strong fansite support by making this change," Smedly said, "but we do think it's important to have a forum for players to communicate directly with SOE."

Smedley says Sony isn't mandating any major changes to Vanguard, but a lot of time will be spent cleaning up "legacy issues" with the game, as well as taking steps to improve its performance. Former Sigil President and CEO Brad McQuaid will serve as a consultant to Sony as a creative advisor for Vanguard, while Dave Gilbertson will take over responsibility for the day-to-day management of both the Sigil Carlsbad office, as well as Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

The full announcement of SOE's acquisition of Sigil Games is available here.